The shoals are there still, the winds howl loud, the rain beats down, the waves burst strong. Some night, in the chill darkness, someone will make a mistake: The sea will show him no mercy. ~ John T. Cunningham
“Lost Tourists on the Jetty” ……. Their very own version of Hide and Seek. Two members played victim and while the rest suited up, they went out among the jetty jacks (long concrete pieces used to protect the end of the jetty. The way they are piled looks like a childs toy jacks) to find a place to hide, simulating a tourist or fisherman falling off the jetty and into the rocks.
As we pulled her up, she was face down and we were attaching her that way to a back board. Upon extricating her we rolled her over and now the fun began. While holding the board we needed to finish strapping her in with straps that were wedged under and around everything and one and now the tide was really coming in and several times we came close to not being able to lift her to safety from the waves rushing in, and water surrounded her face as we worked .
Once out to the water, we found an opening large enough to pull her up through and with support from above we stood the backboard straight up and hauled her to the top of the rocks.
s rocks. With a little assist we all made it up and now we had to get our cargo to shore. Forming a human chain we passed her along until she was safe on land.
This time the victim could not be brought out on the board as it just didn’t fit back through the only way in or out. And so we went to Plan B. Stabilize and bring out without the back board and then board him up and raise him out.
Dive Team Training
It was windy…….very windy. And cold. Not that this has ever stopped me before. I met a group from the Point Pleasant Beach Dive Team and we headed for the inlet.
The water was dark and murky. Kind of a brown green and the wind was kicking up quite a chop. It was decided that instead of a dive…..there would be a drill.
The rest of us then broke into 3 teams of 3 and went looking. Let me say, this is not the first time they have done this. They are very good at hiding.
Sue was located first. Playing the unconscious victim wedged in the rocks. She had found a cave like section of rock and wedged body parts all around. I was part of the 4 man team down with her as not everyone fit through the opening she had gone in through. It was tight….very tight and we became “close” friends as we climbed over each other lining up.
After stabilizing the head and neck and dislodging the body parts, we proceeded to use the incoming waves to bring her out of her hole and up with us. The tide….the incoming tide…..that with each wave came farther and farther into our little “room”.
Once getting her in place we now had to get her out. Certainly not through the slit we shimmied in from. We started crawling out toward the water carrying our passenger with us.
I won’t say I wasn’t getting a little nervous as the water was rising and rushing in about us and we still had to get out. I have short legs here and those are some gi-normou
The value of teamwork and the efforts of many make a rescue like this possible in real life. This type of real life/real time practice puts it all in perspective.
Our second “victim” was harder to find. I think he fell asleep waiting for us. I yelled Marco hoping for a Polo as we climbed about looking betwixt and between the rocks for him. He was finally spotted and again in a tight hole. Again they called for me to go in but there just was not enough room in this hidey hole for all of us and I stayed at the opening protecting another member who was half in the hole from hitting his head on the rocks as he worked.
This job is not easy. It’s like a puzzle to figure out. It’s definitely a group effort. And this is only one of the many things they do. It will be interesting.